


Snippet of Tony Stark

by asweetstone



Series: Random ramblings [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-29 10:28:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7680832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asweetstone/pseuds/asweetstone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Random ramblings from Tony's point of view</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snippet of Tony Stark

Tony Stark knows about money. And fame. And genius. He also knows about not belonging anywhere no matter how rich, famous or smart you are. It’s all part of the poor little rich boy package for which Anthony Edward Stark has been honorary poster boy for as long as he can remember. So he is genuinely surprised when he realised one day that he is a part of something. Something real, maybe even good, a collection of dysfunctional parts that somehow assembled (ha pun!) into a machine which saved the world. Repeatedly. 

It’s almost a miracle how they lasted a team, especially in the raw early days, where trust was an issue. Natasha and Clint were little better than trained killing machines, emotions all but wiped out. Bruce was torn between fear and self-loathing. Thor carried a crushing sense of regret and failure towards his own realm and father, not to mention guilt by proxy for Loki's actions on Earth. 

And then there was Steve. Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. Of their little band of misfits, Steve had seemed the most normal to Tony; the all American hero, stoic and put together. He worked out in the gym. He cooked from time to time. He watched television. Yet even when Natasha and Clint, after a couple of months, started to drape themselves over the living room couches, when Bruce would visit Tony in his workshop to chat about science, when Thor brought back Asgardian mead for the team, Steve was still... normal. Too normal. He always sat up straight in the corner-most seat of the living room couch, taking notes of things he noticed on television and making his excuses once it was 9 o'clock. He had a fixed running route around the Tower, from which he never deviated (yes so he had Jarvis track the guy. He was curious. Sue him). He trained in the gym and rarely set foot outside the Tower other than for his runs or to fight the latest threat. And he never once mentioned or went back to Brooklyn. 

It took Tony a while before he realised, but once he did he couldn't help but notice how Steve Rogers was just as messed up as the rest of them, albeit in a highly functional way. It was as if he held himself aloft from this new time, going through the motions, doing the bare minimum until he can return to where he belong. The knowledge unsettled Tony, reminded himself of the time he was sent away from home, a lost boy in a sea of unknown, clinging to routine (then caffeine, alcohol and… other distractions... poor little rich boy remember?) to maintain a semblance of normality. And Steve Rogers should NOT be lost. He is Captain America for fuck sake, Tony's childhood hero and beacon and all that. 

So before Tony knew it he was throwing things at Steve. Technology-type things to begin with, because he Tony Stark of Stark Industries (obviously). Then paints and easels, recordings of baseball games he missed, subscriptions to art magazines. All the little things which he hoped would Steve a little more comfortable in this strange new time. He thought it was working too. He thought the blank haunted looks on Steve's face were less frequent. Until the day of the giant robotic spiders. 

The fight was smooth and efficient, as their fights tended to be nowadays. Tony had been manning the perimeter, picking off the ugly brutes that attempted to break further into the residential zones. As he finished off the last of the stragglers, he turned to see Steve on the scaffolding, almost absentmindedly grabbing the legs of a robot spider, while a second spider crept up on him from the other side, and squirted acid at his left arm and torso. 

He guess he expected Steve, Captain America, to fight back. Use one spider as a crude cudgel to hammer the other perhaps. Or swing round on the scaffolding so that he can kick the second spider off. But no. Steve's grip loosened and he fell... his body language strangely resigned from Tony's point of view. And in that moment Tony knew. Steve really wants to go home.

"Cap!" 

The dive and grab happened in a blur, and Tony had Steve by the waist, his mind reeling with the possibility that Steve was (perhaps subconsciously?) still alone enough to want to end it all. He kept up his usual babble, curses, anything to fill the void that seemed to occupy the space between them.

"Tony" Steve said.

And Steve smiled. Blue eyes twinkling with pain and acceptance and something else Tony couldn't place.

"Tony. Let's go home."


End file.
